Statement of William V. Corr Executive Director, Campaign for Tobacco-Free

Kids

WASHINGTON, March 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. House Energy
and Commerce Subcommittee on Health today acted to protect our children and
the nation's health by approving legislation granting the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate tobacco products. This is a
very strong bill that provides the FDA with ample resources and effective
authority to bring about fundamental change that will promote public
health.

Today's subcommittee vote moves Congress a critical step closer to
enacting truly historic legislation that can protect our children from
tobacco addiction and save countless lives. There are few actions Congress
can take that would make a bigger difference for our nation's health.
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, Health Subcommittee
Chairman Frank Pallone and U.S. Reps. Henry Waxman and Tom Davis, the
bill's sponsors, have been true champions of public health in moving this
legislation forward.

Companion Senate legislation was approved by the Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on August 1. We urge both
the Senate and the House to quickly enact this long-overdue legislation
into law and to reject all efforts to weaken it. It is clear from the
strong support in both political parties and both chambers of Congress that
Congress has the votes to pass this bipartisan legislation now. A Senate
majority of 56 senators are sponsoring this legislation, as are 217 members
of the House.

This legislation is supported by more than 600 public health, faith and
other organizations across the country, including every major national
public health organization (see list at
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/fda/organizations.pdf). According to a
national poll conducted last year, 70 percent of voters support Congress
passing this legislation, with support across political lines, geographic
regions and even by a majority of smokers (detailed poll results:
http://tobaccofreekids.org/fdapoll/). In 2007, both the Institute of
Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences and the President's Cancer
Panel issued landmark reports endorsing FDA regulation of tobacco products.

The need for this legislation couldn't be clearer. Tobacco use is the
nation's leading preventable cause of death, killing more than 400,000
people and costing nearly $100 billion in health care bills each year.
Every day, another 1,200 Americans die from tobacco use and more than 1,000
children become new regular smokers.

Despite the death and disease they cause, tobacco products are
virtually unregulated to protect public health. Tobacco companies take
advantage of this lack of regulation to design and market products that
entice children, create and sustain addiction to nicotine, and discourage
current smokers from quitting, as demonstrated by a report released last
month by a coalition of public health organizations (report:
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/productsreport). The report reveals how tobacco
manufacturers have responded to declines in smoking by introducing a new
generation of deadly and addictive products, including candy and
fruit-flavored products that appeal to kids and products that try to deter
smokers from quitting by making unproven and misleading claims that they
are less harmful than traditional cigarettes.
The legislation approved today would grant the FDA authority to:

The FDA is the right agency to regulate tobacco products because it is
the only agency with the combination of regulatory experience, scientific
expertise and public health mandate to do the job right. It is also
important to note that the legislation would require tobacco companies to
pay user fees that would amply fund the FDA's new tobacco-related
responsibilities and ensure they do not impede or take resources from the
FDA's other important work. The legislation also prohibits tobacco
manufacturers from claiming that any tobacco product has been approved by
the FDA.

By enacting this legislation into law this year, Congress can finally
end the special protection the tobacco industry has enjoyed for far too
long and instead protect our children and the nation's health.

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